RAPID CITY, SD – The Idaho Steelheads (10-6-2-0) fell to the Rapid City Rush (6-8-2-0) 5-4 in overtime Wednesday night at The Monument in Rapid City. The teams will continue their three-game set on Friday at 7:05 p.m. MST before finishing the series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. MST.
The Rush opened the scoring 4:53 into the opening period when Parker Bowman notched his first of the season, but Idaho quickly responded just over 90 seconds later with a power play tally from Ty Pelton-Byce to bring the Steelheads even in the early going.
In the second period the Rush built a larger lead. Blake Bennett gave Rapid City another go-ahead goal at 6:36 of the frame for his sixth goal of the season. Then, Cameron Buhl found a rebound in the slot and beat Arno Tiefensee for his fourth goal of the season to extend the lead to 3-1 at 13:01. Quinn Olson grew the lead to three goals when he made a strong individual play to find free ice in between the circles and score on a backhand shot to make it 4-1 Rapid City. Idaho got one goal back shortly after when Kaleb Pearson’s shot from the right circle deflected off a Rush defender and in for Pearson’s seventh goal of the season.
In the third period Pearson struck with his eighth goal, scoring from the slot after a backhand feed from Liam Malmquist to draw the Steelheads within one goal at 11:41. Late in the frame, with the Steelheads chasing an equalizer, Angus MacDonell came through, deflecting a Brendan Hoffman shot by Rapid City goaltender Arsenii Sergeev to bring the teams even once more with 3:34 remaining in regulation.
In overtime, despite some offensive zone pressure and a breakaway shot from Francesco Arcuri, the Steelheads suffered the loss, with Ryan Wagner scoring in the top left corner of the net by Tiefensee and winning the game for the Rush just under three minutes into the extra frame.
Idaho’s Arno Tiefensee made 28 saves on 33 shots in the loss, while Rapid City’s Arsenii Sergeev stopped 44 of 48 shots in the win.
ICCU THREE STARS
1) Ryan Wagner (RC, 1-1-2, +1, 4 shots)
2) Cameron Buhl (RC, 1-0-1, 0, 1 shot)
3) Parker Bowman (RC, 1-0-1, 0, 3 shots)
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